Hotels Take on Pop-Up Restaurant Trend

Four Seasons Hotel, Seattle, Wash.
ART Restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Seattle added a scavenger-hunt twist to its recent pop-ups, which generated buzz for the restaurant’s fifth-anniversary in November.

In August, clues to five Seattle locations, including the famous Space Needle, were posted on the hotel’s social media sites and mentioned in local radio spots. The first person to arrive at the correct location received an ART pop-up meal created by executive chef Kerry Sear.

“We thought it was a fun way to celebrate the city and share the restaurant’s food in a new way,” says Crystal Southcote, public relations and social media coordinator for the hotel. “It brought the hotel and restaurant attention, and it helped us get our name and brand out there.”

Southcote, who distributed the restaurant’s menus to the crowd of onlookers at each event, says Interest in ART has increased. The hotel is hopeful the pop-up promotion will draw locals into the restaurant, particularly during the week.

“We’re already brainstorming ideas on how we can use that pop-up model again,” she says.

The Ritz-Carlton – Coconut Grove, Miami, Fla.
Executive chef Ramesh Kaduru has created an authentic Indian pop-up restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove in Miami, Fla.

“Pop ups are very trendy right now, especially in Miami,” says Tatiana Lora, the hotel’s public relations manager. “We had a very unique opportunity to be able to offer Indian cuisine. It’s a nice marriage between the traditional and the modern.”

A rarely used back section of the hotel’s signature restaurant, Bizcaya, provided the backdrop for the Passage to India pop-up, which opened in October and continues through early November, Lora says.
“It’s really an experience from the moment you walk into the restaurant,” she says, adding the pop-up includes traditional décor and a full menu with traditional favorites and vegetarian meals. “For us, it’s being able to provide something different to the community but in a Ritz-Carlton way with Ritz-Carlton service and Ritz-Carlton quality food.”